Chapter 171 - 167: The Highest Peak

Chapter 171: Chapter 167: The Highest Peak

The voice wasn’t loud, yet it was like a deafening tremor in their ears.

The expressions of the two men in black changed drastically.

Before they could even think, they instinctively swung the blades gripped tightly in their hands backward. The blades sliced through the air with a piercing whistle.

This slash was a life-saving technique, honed through years of cultivation and combat experience. It was executed from a cunning angle with immense force.

But the blades stopped midway through their arc.

Two hands had caught the blades, one for each. The fingers of each hand were clamped tight, the sharp edges digging deep into the flesh of the palms, yet not a single drop of blood was drawn.

The two hands were like cast iron, utterly still. No matter how hard the men in black tried to yank their blades free, they seemed welded in place, not budging an inch.

The two men in black raised their heads in terror and saw the person who had caught their blades.

Under the moonlight, a young man stood before them, his figure as straight as a pine tree, his face as calm as still water.

Before the terrified eyes of the two men in black, the two blades, forged from fine steel, began to distort.

In an instant, the blades were crushed into twisted lumps of scrap iron.

"Run!"

One of the men in black let out a terrified roar. They released their hilts and, in unison, bolted in two different directions.

But before either of them could take a single step, a hand clamped down on each of their shoulders.

Five fingers dug deep into their shoulder sockets, locking onto the gap between their collarbones and shoulder blades. The next instant, a terrifying, immense force descended upon their shoulders.

Under the impact of the immense force, the knees of the two men in black buckled, their bodies sinking involuntarily as they smashed directly onto the bluestone pavers with a dull thud.

"Aargh!"

The two men in black screamed in agony. It felt as if their shoulder blades would shatter under Chen Yue’s palms at any moment. Cold sweat poured down their backs, instantly soaking their robes.

Hu Shaoyu heard the commotion from inside the house and was instantly wide awake. He sprang out of bed in a single motion and ran out barefoot, not even taking the time to put on his shoes.

He saw Chen Yue in the courtyard, standing in the shadows by the wall, his hands pressing down on the shoulders of two men in black. The two men were half-kneeling on the ground, their bodies trembling violently from the excruciating pain, lacking even the strength to struggle.

Scattered on the ground were two blades, crushed into scrap metal, reflecting a twisted, cold light under the moon.

At the same time, the door to the main house creaked open, and Lin Quan ran out in a panic.

The buttons on his outer robe were mismatched, one foot was shod while the other was bare, and his hair was a mess. He had clearly been startled awake by the screams of the men in black and had rushed out without even getting properly dressed.

"What’s wrong? What happened?"

Lin Quan’s voice trembled as his gaze swept across the courtyard. He saw the two men in black, the scrap metal blades on the ground, and Chen Yue’s hands pressing down on the men.

His steps faltered for a moment, then he slowly composed himself.

Chen Yue used his Qi to firmly lock several of the two men’s key acupoints. The invisible force wrapped around their meridians like ropes, making it impossible to even move a finger, let alone break free.

Chen Yue released his hands from their shoulders. He grabbed one in each hand and casually tossed them onto the bluestone pavers in the center of the courtyard.

Two dull thuds sounded almost simultaneously as the bodies of the two men in black slammed heavily onto the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Their backs and shoulders were already aching unbearably from Chen Yue’s grip. The throw made their bones feel as if they had been completely disassembled, letting out a series of dense cracking sounds.

Chen Yue looked down on them, the moonlight spilling from behind him, hiding his face in shadow and revealing only a pair of eyes that seemed to gleam faintly in the darkness.

"Speak. What’s going on?"

One of the men in black struggled to lift his head, his eyes, visible above the black cloth, filled with terror.

"Sir, this is all a misunderstanding! We came to the wrong place! Otherwise, with our meager strength, how would we dare to come here? You are a man of great magnanimity; please be merciful and let us go!"

The other man in black quickly chimed in, his tone almost fawningly obsequious.

"Yes, yes, it’s all a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding! We just took a wrong turn into this courtyard. It was pitch black, and we got confused! We’ll leave right now, right now! We won’t disturb your rest, sir!"

Chen Yue’s eyes narrowed slightly. He didn’t ask another question, but slowly extended a finger.

A stream of invisible Qi shot out from his fingertip, striking the first man in black with pinpoint accuracy.

The man’s body stiffened, then began to contort instantly.

Chen Yue’s Qi had also sealed his voice. His mouth hung wide open, a hoarse, garbled stream of air escaping his throat, but his screams were trapped deep inside, unable to come out no matter how hard he tried.

With Chen Yue’s current understanding of the human body, if he truly wanted to torture someone, he could inflict unimaginable pain without taking their life.

The human body has two hundred and six bones, over six hundred muscles, and tens of thousands of nerves. Every nerve, every joint, every muscle has its most vulnerable point.

A Body Forging expert, if familiar enough with human anatomy, could send their Qi precisely into these vulnerable spots, making a person experience a pain that originates from the very marrow of their bones.

This was exactly what Chen Yue was doing now.

He needed no torture instruments, only a stream of Qi.

Seeing his companion’s horrific state, the terror in the other man’s eyes intensified.

He could tell his companion wasn’t acting. The way his body contorted, the silent screams, the agony that radiated from his very bones—it was impossible to fake.

Chen Yue’s gaze shifted from the man still writhing on the ground and slowly turned to the other one.

His expression was unchanged, his eyes showing no flicker of emotion. But that very calmness was the most effective form of psychological pressure.

The man swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

"We were just following orders,"

His voice was hoarse and dry, as if his throat were lined with sandpaper. "That Shen Dujiang has a grudge with our people, but he’s gone into hiding. We’ve been looking for him for days but couldn’t find a trace.

"Then we tracked him here, learned about his relationship with you, and so... so we planned to use you to threaten him, to force him to show himself."

Standing under the eaves, Hu Shaoyu’s brow furrowed into a tight knot.

He hadn’t expected these people to be here for Shen Dujiang.

’He recalled what Shen Dujiang had said during the day. Shen Dujiang had vaguely mentioned going to buy something, then disappeared for the entire day and still hadn’t returned.’

’Thinking back now, Shen Dujiang probably chose to leave so he wouldn’t bring trouble to this courtyard.’

’He didn’t want to cause trouble for them.’

But in the end, trouble had found them anyway.

Chen Yue’s brow twitched slightly. "Who are you working for?"

’Shen Dujiang had clearly seen my skills and knew I was a disciple of the Panshi Sect. Yet even so, he was unwilling to trouble me.’

’That could only mean the other party’s identity would be troublesome, or even dangerous, for me.’

The man in black looked into Chen Yue’s eyes and hesitated for a moment.

"Our young master is an Inner Sect Disciple of the Flame Palace. He joined the Flame Palace ten years ago."

Hearing this, Lin Quan and Hu Shaoyu turned their heads almost in unison and exchanged a look.

The Flame Palace. That was a Major Sect on par with the Panshi Sect. They suddenly understood why Shen Dujiang had said nothing.

Chen Yue’s expression remained as calm as still water. He showed no emotional reaction to the name ’Flame Palace’.

"Your young master... what’s his cultivation level?"

The man in black didn’t hesitate. Since he had already started talking, there was no point in holding anything back.

"He’s at the peak of the Refining Organ Realm!"

At these words, Lin Quan and Hu Shaoyu sucked in a sharp breath of cold air.

Lin Quan’s face turned deathly pale, and Hu Shaoyu’s expression changed drastically as well.

Lin Quan knew nothing of Martial Arts; his greatest skills in life were prescribing and concocting medicines. However, he still knew the general divisions of a Martial Artist’s realms.

Peak of the Refining Organ Realm... that was just one step away from the Innate Acupoint Refining Realm.

Of course, no one could say for sure if they would ever actually reach the Innate realm.

Out of ten peak Refining Organ Realm masters, not even one might truly step into the Innate realm. But regardless, the peak of the Refining Organ Realm was the strongest level of cultivation Below Innate, the highest peak a mortal Martial Artist could achieve.

Everyone who reached that position had gone through countless trials to get there.

Hu Shaoyu’s mouth twitched, unsure whether to laugh or cry. His hands clenched into fists, then relaxed, then clenched again several times. He didn’t even know what he was trying to do.

"Heh heh!" A cold laugh came from the ground.

The man in black who had been tortured by the Qi to within an inch of his life had finally caught his breath.

He lifted his head, his bloodshot eyes staring daggers at Chen Yue. Beyond the fear, there was a malice that seemed to bubble up from his very bones.

"Our young master only wants to drag out that Shen Dujiang. As for the rest of you, I advise you not to get involved! Some murky waters aren’t for just anyone to wade into!"

Chen Yue glanced at the man, then turned his attention back to the first one.

"Knowing Shen Dujiang’s character, he wouldn’t deliberately provoke a powerful enemy. Is his grudge with someone other than your young master?"

"Yes,"

The man’s voice was a bit steadier than before. "Shen Dujiang has a grudge with our old master. They happened to run into each other recently in Celestial State Prefecture City. When the young master found out, he naturally had to stand up for his father."

The courtyard fell silent. The moonlight was like water, the night breeze like silk.

’In my mind, all the various clues were now being threaded together by an invisible string, forming a complete picture.’

’Shen Dujiang had been hiding. He didn’t want to bring this trouble down on Lin Quan and Hu Shaoyu.’

’If it weren’t for Lin Quan’s wedding in the next couple of days, he probably would have just left.’

’In Shen Dujiang’s mind, an enemy like this was simply not someone the current me could handle. No matter how strong I was, I was still just a disciple who had joined the Panshi Sect less than two months ago.’

’The peak of the Refining Organ Realm... no matter how much of a genius I am, it’s impossible to grow strong enough in such a short time to face a peak Refining Organ Realm master head-on.’